1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a housing of an automatic shift lever device of a vehicle, which housing has a plate for indicating the position of the shift lever by characters such as xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cRxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cNxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d. The plate is mounted on the housing to be in parallel with the direction of movement of the automatic shift lever.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, an automatic shift lever device of a vehicle has an automatic shift lever that moves in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle. This manner of movement of the automatic shift lever is different from that of a manual shift lever. It is necessary for the automatic shift lever device to clearly indicate the position of the shift lever. Therefore, the automatic shift lever device is equipped with a plate in the following manner: An automatic shift lever device proper is housed in a housing which has an elongate opening. The shift lever projects upwardly through the elongate opening and can make a linear movement in the elongate opening. In addition, the housing has a window or opening which is elongate in shape. A plate for indicating characters such as xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cRxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cNxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is secured to the window, which characters are made through printing or the like. A lighting system is provided below the window of the housing. This lighting system helps achieve bright and clear characters of the plate. Generally, the plate is thin, transparent and rectangular. Moreover, being made of plastics or the like, the plate is flexible.
The housing has a pair of rails on an inside surface thereof. In assembly of the housing, the plate is inserted into the rails by sliding both longitudinal sides of the plate along the rails. After this sliding movement to a predetermined position, the plate is opposed to the window. In fact, the characters of the plate are exposed through the window. Depending on the configuration of the housing, it may become necessary to sharply bend the plate in order to insert the longitudinal side edges of the plate into the rails of the housing. This insertion may not be an easy operation and may cause scratches or cracks on the surface of the plate.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a shift lever housing having a plate for denoting the shift lever position, which plate is easily to be mounted on the housing, thus achieving a good assembly work.
There is provided a housing of a vehicular shift lever, according to the present invention. This housing comprises a) a plate having characters for denoting position of the vehicular shift lever, the plate having a first side that is substantially in parallel with a direction of movement of the vehicular shift lever; b) a receiving portion for receiving therein the plate, the receiving portion being configured such that, when the plate is received in the receiving portion, the plate is mounted on an inner surface of the housing; and c) a first supporting portion for supporting thereon the first side of the plate, the first supporting portion being formed of a plurality of first projections arranged on a first side of the receiving portion, the first side of the receiving portion being substantially in parallel with the direction of movement of the vehicular shift lever. In this housing, the plate has on the first side thereof a plurality of first cut-outs, each first cut-out having a size relative to a respective one of the first projections of the receiving portion such that at least a part of each first cut-out is allowed to be occupied by at least a part of the respective one of the first projections when each first cut-out is mated with the respective one of the first projections in order to bring the plate into the receiving portion.